32-40

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Catpop

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A522021E-2227-4AA2-895A-7FA5275B301D.jpeg I thought this was interesting and felt like rifle thread might like to see.
These cartridges and the Winchester 94 John Wayne Commemoration Issue were only made in 1981. This was almost 40 years ago. My how time flys!!!!
Even then factory 32-40 ammo was hard to come by. Today even more so!!!!

Correct me if incorrect.
 
Very nice. I remember that run of classic cartridges. I think they also did a run of 38-55. I had a friend in high school in 67 who had a 94 in 32-40. It was a sweet shooter

Thanks for sharing
 
I was told that .32-40 was a blackpowder cartridge... did it become a smokeless load or is all .32-40 BP? Forgive my ignorance. I actually inherited an original octagonal barrel Winchester 1894 in .32-40 and have never looked into it. It's got some issues and I've never tried to shoot it.
 
Damn your right...I havnt seen any in years. When I was a kid, my grandpaw had I believe a ballard schutzen rifle in that caliber, and all the cases bullets/ molds for it. Too bad it went away before I was old enough to snag it. Maybe some avaliability from nitch makers, or custom lathe turned cases. Hadnt thought about the 32-40 in years
 
Can't even recall the last time I saw any 32-40 ammo or even a rifle that chambers it. Was thinking of a Savage 23-C that I saw but that's in 32-20; which is another rare one. Would that commemorative ammo have any collector value? I think some of the small, specialty ammo folks may load that but it would be pretty expensive, but still an option if one had a rifle so chambered. Interesting and thanks for posting.
 
The .32-40 was a black powder cartridge, one of the first chamberings for the new M1894 Winchester. But black powder loads haven't been available for many many years - much longer that 40 years ago. Winchester offered smokeless loads in the early 20th century, then the cartridge was completely dropped until the JW offering mentioned here. Load data was available within the past 10-20 years by Hornady.


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The .32-40 was a black powder cartridge, one of the first chamberings for the new M1894 Winchester. But black powder loads haven't been available for many many years - much longer that 40 years ago. Winchester offered smokeless loads in the early 20th century, then the cartridge was completely dropped until the JW offering mentioned here. Load data was available within the past 10-20 years by Hornady.


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This pretty much sums it up. This is a wonderful old cartridge that made the transition to smokeless and was very popular among the Schuetzen rifle crowd. It is a very accurate cartridge. After the transition to smokeless, it was always loaded to B/P ballistics, but it can be loaded quite a bit hotter for a 94.
 
I just found a site called Ventura Munitions in Nevada that sells it along with some other interesting old cartridges. $45/20, 1600 fps
 
All XX-XX calibers were originally BP, except the ones like 30-06 and 7-08, if I'm not mistaken.

45-70was a 45 cal with 70gr of BP
32-20 was a 32 cal with 20gr of BP etc

I've actually got both a winchester 1873 rifle and a colt new navy revolver in 32-20. Both originals.
 
All XX-XX calibers were originally BP, except the ones like 30-06 and 7-08, if I'm not mistaken.

45-70was a 45 cal with 70gr of BP
32-20 was a 32 cal with 20gr of BP etc

I've actually got both a winchester 1873 rifle and a colt new navy revolver in 32-20. Both originals.


Oooops, not quite. The .30-30 was always smokeless. It just used the old ●●-●● blackpowder designation. Most of those though are bp.
 
Oooops, not quite. The .30-30 was always smokeless. It just used the old ●●-●● blackpowder designation. Most of those though are bp.

https://thebiggamehuntingblog.com/30-30-winchester/

First introduced by Winchester Repeating Arms in 1895 for their Model 1894 rifle, the .30-30 Winchester made history as the first sporting cartridge loaded exclusively with smokeless powder.Winchester originally named the cartridge the “.30 Winchester Smokeless” and it carried a “.30 WCF” (short for .30 Winchester Center Fire) headstamp.

However, the management at rival gun manufacturer Marlin knew a good thing when they saw it and adopted the cartridge for use in their Model 1893 rifle several months later. Not wanting to give their competitor free advertising, Marlin worked with the Union Metallic Cartridge Company (UMC) to produce identical ammunition with the designation .30-30 Smokeless, or just .30-30 for short.

UMC derived those names by using the black powder naming convention in common use at the time that consisted of the caliber of the cartridge followed by the standard load of powder in grains (like the .45-70 Government for instance). Since the new Winchester cartridge used a .30 caliber bullet (.308″ diameter) propelled by 30 grains of smokeless powder, the cartridge received the designation “.30-30.”

Old habits die hard
 
.25-35 Winchester, .25-36 Marlin, .30-30 Winchester, and .30-40 Krag were all smokeless cartridges from their inceptions.
Lol I guess my post should read many of the popular... instead of "all". Good thing I said 'to the best of my knowledge' haha

25-35 is one I assumed was BP
Never heard of the marlin
I totally spaced out the krag!
 
I was told that .32-40 was a blackpowder cartridge... did it become a smokeless load or is all .32-40 BP? Forgive my ignorance. I actually inherited an original octagonal barrel Winchester 1894 in .32-40 and have never looked into it. It's got some issues and I've never tried to shoot it.
It was originally but has been loaded with black powder for years, to original pressure levels.
 
32-40 and 38-55 were the original chambering a for the 94 as the steel for smokeless wasn't available yet.
 
the 32-40 was the first centerfire rifle cartridge I ever shot! my gpa had a orig hiwall Winchester that belonged to his dad as well. I believe my great gpa purchased it new around 1920.

I helped him reload for it with blackpowder and bullets he cast. we used a old lyman tong tool. he lubed his bullets with beef tallow I think..

later I inherited the rifle and loaded for it with light loads of smokeless. the inside of the barrel looks like a dirty sewer sewer pipe but it could still keep 5 shots of jacketed 165 grn bullets on a playing card at 50 yrds.

one of the stories gpa had was that his hired hand on the farm shot a goose out of the air with one winter. he said the man aimed at the lead goose in the vee and killed the rearmost one.
 
This pretty much sums it up. This is a wonderful old cartridge that made the transition to smokeless and was very popular among the Schuetzen rifle crowd. It is a very accurate cartridge. After the transition to smokeless, it was always loaded to B/P ballistics, but it can be loaded quite a bit hotter for a 94.

They did at one time offer three smokeless power levels for the .32-40, the standard load mimicking black powder, a "High Velocity" from Winchester with a 165 gr bullet around 1750, and from Remington-UMC a "High Power" with a 165 gr bullet at around 2060 (this was quite equal to the 30-30 loads offered at the time).

Always thought it would be neat to have a brand new 32-40 and see about loading 170s to 1,800, 2,000 or more.
 
I don't have a current picture, but I own a Marlin model 1893 in 32-40. It says in prominent letters, "FOR BLACK POWDER". It has a 26" barrel. The best I can tell, it was made about 1907. When I did shoot it, I loaded it with trailboss powder. When I first acquired it, it came with about 40 165 grain projectiles. After I shot them up, I keep meaning to slug the bore and order more cast bullets. I've since added a tang sight. This thread reminds me that I need to revisit that rifle.
 
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Great cartridge in single shots and lever guns. Impressively accurate at long range too.

I had a smokeless proofed Marlin Model 93 in 32-40 and fooled with it alot in the 1980s . It really liked the old pope style 165 grain bullet from Lyman molds and I used light loads of RL7 powder with it for around 1400 FPS out of the 24" octagonal barrel. I sold the rifle to a collector 5 years ago for $1000 . Marlin should reintroduce the Model 93 in the new .350 Legacy :) s-l1600.jpg
 

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my two winchester 32-40,s, a rifle and a saddle ring carbine that I shoot. useing 165 gr cast bullets and 165 jacketed bullets at between 1600-1800 fps with smokless powder. plenty of energy for deer and bear with in its range capabilities.
 

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